Bedtime Stories
by Gamebird
Summary: What if Luke's voiceover on the teaser was directed at Ben, and the 'thousand generations' that lived on in him was something passed on to him by Luke? Force Ghost Luke tells Ben the truth of his past.


_From the 4/12/19 Rise of Skywalker teaser: _

"_We've passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now. But this is your fight. We'll always be with you. No one's ever really gone."_

* * *

It started the night after the Battle of Crait. Tossing and turning on his bed, Kylo kept reliving the horrors of the day. He flinched and twitched at phantom impacts as the fight with the guards played out behind his lids, or he was swinging again at Luke's projection, just as pointlessly. He'd thought he knew the future after the brief touch with Rey. Even the Force had lied to him.

"Ben."

He jerked upward. Luke stood near his door, hands folded. He wasn't the younger man he'd fought earlier. This Luke was grizzled. His face was lined. His robes were worn. Although Kylo's hand had shot out to the side, he hadn't quite drawn the saber to him. "You're not really here."

"No. You know what happened."

"Yes." He dropped his hand to the bed. "Your life was a lie. Why would your death be any different?" He was too wary to lie down.

"I came to talk to you about that."

"Your death? Was it painful?" He felt an urge to mock his old master now that he could get away with it, but it felt hollow.

"No." Luke came forward and sat on the end of the bed.

Kylo thought he should scowl. Instead, he swallowed and sighed. As far as he knew, there was little they could do to one another. He flopped back on the bed and scrubbed at his face with a hand. "What are you here for?"

"You were having trouble sleeping. One thing I'm good at, and you know I am, is dull, boring lectures that put you to sleep every time. You used to complain about them endlessly."

Kylo lifted his head to look down his body disbelievingly at Luke. "You're going to lecture me? That's how you're going to get your revenge against me?" Luke smiled slyly. Kylo let his head fall back. "Do your worst." At least it would get his mind off the ache Rey's expression left in his heart when he'd last seen her.

"Let me tell you the true story of the first time I met Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"The truth?" His head snapped back up.

"The truth," Luke nodded. "Lie down. Get comfortable. I'm going to be talking for a while."

And he was. Kylo struggled to stay awake, but it didn't work. Luke's calm, droning voice knocked him out somewhere around the part with the Tuskan Raiders. It was one of the best nights of sleep he'd had in a long time. Which was good, because the next day was hectic and stressful.

Sleep didn't find him any easier the next night. His mind spun with the rescue efforts, the careful juggling of the First Order High Command, and what he might do to maintain the leadership structure near him without simply killing everyone for the treasonous thoughts they were entertaining. They were all problems his tired mind didn't know how to solve, but it wouldn't let him sleep while it grappled with them.

Until Luke arrived again. With another story. This time it was about meeting Han in the cantina. Kylo had heard a version of this one from Han and a different version from Chewie, but this was the first time he'd heard the full version from Luke. Or at least the first part of it. He was sure there was more, but he passed out during Luke's uncharitable description of the _Falcon_. It didn't matter too much. Kylo was familiar with the ship.

He woke refreshed yet again. He needed it. His day was again filled with battles and although most were of the non-physical sort, they were life and death in their own way. That night, his tossing and turning wasn't preoccupation with the day's events. It was impatience, addressed soon enough by Luke's arrival.

"As I mentioned to you some years ago, you can only see the Force ghosts of people you had a connection to in life. You never knew Ben Kenobi, but I did. There was a lot that he had to tell me after Endor, when I was begging for guidance on how to proceed."

"We all saw how that worked out," Kylo said snarkily. But he didn't mean it viciously. His voice was relaxed. His posture was attentive with one hand folded behind his head, elbow up and to the side.

"Everything I'm telling you is true as I know it. There's a lot of what Kenobi told me that was true, but only from a certain point of view. While I was alive, I couldn't make sense of the perspective. I grew up a moisture farmer on Tatooine. He grew up a Jedi on Coruscant. Very different. But now that I've died, it makes more sense to me. I know his life almost like it's my own."

Kylo listened politely.

Luke continued, "Tonight's story will be things Kenobi told me about your grandfather's childhood. They are things no one else in the galaxy knows. I think it might help you understand where you've come from. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Luke told about Annie and Shmi and Qui Gon. He talked about the pod races and the Jedi Council. Kylo stayed awake the entire time, feeling anger, concern, and outrage on Anakin's behalf for how he'd been treated. When Luke was done, he rose and put a ghostly hand over Kylo's shoulder. "Tomorrow night, I'll tell you all of that and more from Anakin's point of view."

"You knew-" Kylo shook his head. "Of course you knew him. You had a connection with him."

Luke nodded. "Just wait until I get to the stories from Yoda and all the people he made connections with other the centuries." Kylo's eyes widened at the implication. With that, Luke made a patting motion that Kylo could see but not feel, and vanished from sight. Peaceful sleep claimed him soon thereafter.

For the first time ever, his life was not a lie.


End file.
